11 so
that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the
dead!

(dan
note: Paul wanted to suffer for Jesus – today we feel just the
opposite – sometimes it feels like we're so busy guarding our
“religious freedoms” of privilege that we miss what we're
supposed to be all about – loving God & loving others)

12 I
don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I
have already reached perfection.

But
I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first
possessed me.

13 No,
dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on
this one thing:

Forgetting the past
and looking forward to what lies ahead,

14I
press on to reach the end of the race

and receive the
heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

(dan
note: let's remember that Paul had a LOT to forget from his past –
he approved the stoning of Stephen & persecuting followers of
Jesus, throwing them in prison, & having them executed – Paul
as Saul was NOT a nice guy!)

17 Dear
brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from
those who follow our example.

18 For
I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my
eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies
of the cross of Christ.

19 They
are headed for destruction.

Their
god is their appetite,

they
brag about shameful things,

and
they think only about this life here on earth.

(dan
note: do you know anyone like that today? Yeah... so do I. I know so
many people who are doing so many things, people who give in totally
to their “appetites” & truly do “shameful things.”)

20 But
we are citizens of heaven,

where the Lord Jesus Christ
lives.

And
we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.

21 He
will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies
like his own,

using the same power with
which he will bring everything under his control.

SO
MANY power things in those few verses – read them again – there's
a lot of things we'l miss with just one read through - read it again.